Monty Python star John Cleese has said he wished his ex-wives were dead and hoped a falling tree would kill them.

The comic has paid out more than £25 million in divorce settlements to his three former spouses although it failed to stop him walking down the aisle again four years ago.

It was clear the payouts had left Cleese extremely bitter when he appeared on US chat Conan O’Brien alongside his comedy partner Eric Idle, where the two were discussing the secrets to a long-lasting marriage.

But it was not just his ex-wives who were on the receiving end of his acid tongue.

The 77-year-old he wished he had never had his two daughters, Camilla and Cynthia Cleese, after they turned out like their mothers.

“I have been married for 34 years. To four different wives,” he said before referring to his second wife Barbara Threntham, who died from complications of leukaemia in 2013.

“One of my ex-wives died. You know what? It was very sad because it was the wrong one,” said Cleese, who is currently married to Jennifer Wade who is 32 years his junior.

John Cleese and first wife Connie Booth in Fawlty Towers

As the host laughed, he asked: “Do you have any real anger or hatred towards your ex-wives?’

Cleese then let rip at Connie Booth and Alyce Eichelberger.

“No, I mean, I am quite happy if one or two of them would be dead. But I don’t have anything against them as people.

“I wish them dead in the nicest possible way.

John Cleese and third wife Alyce Eichelberger (Image: Getty)

“Not dead in a slow agonising death over a number of years. Something quick like a tree falling on them.”

In 2011 Cleese famously was forced back on the road with his Alimony Tour to fund his bitter divorce with American psychotherapist Eichelberger.

Two years ago he spoke about court battle saying: “She went after me really quite brutally by hiring the nastiest - and I don’t mean the second nastiest or the third nastiest - but the nastiest lawyer in Santa Barbara.

“My wife went and hired this really nasty woman and I had to give her $20 million (£16 million). It’s not fair.”